Page 9 - KLIPINGBELMAWA2042019 (SORE).docx

persecution. We, as students and an intellectual community, object to the suppression of ideas and creativity,” Felix said in his speech.
Felix said the students wanted the rector to reappoint the members of the editorial board.
The editor-in-chief of Suara USU, Yael Stefani Sinaga, who also wrote the controversial short story, said she was grateful for the support of her fellow students.
Yael said the dismissed editorial board members had prepared to move out of the Suara USU secretariat room in compliance with a command from the rector. However, after seeing the protest, Yael said the board members decided to remain where they were. “We will stay here; we did not do anything wrong,” Yael told the Post during the protest.
Yael said the short story was still on the website, although the website is now blocked by the university. “We will never take down the short story because we have a right to freedom of expression,” Yael said.
Reacting to the protest, USU deputy rector Rosmayati said the rectorate had no interest in banning the student publication but would select a new editorial board to run suarausu.co.
Rosmayati said the current editorial board had to leave the secretariat room as the rector would soon recruit new members.
“This was one of the points of the agreement between the rector and the Suara USU editorial board during a meeting on March 25,” she said.
Runtung had claimed that the story and Suara USU as a publication did not reflect the campus’ vision and mission. He said USU strongly opposed pro-LGBT movements on campus.
Media watchdog Remotivi also voiced concern through its Instagram account@remotivi.or.idpublished on Monday, demanding the campus reverse the disbanding of the now-defunct student press and guarantee its freedom of expression. The Indonesian Student Press Alumni Association went further by saying that it was not the first time the USU rector had intervened in the student press, according to a study conducted by the association.
The association’s chairman, Agung Sedayu, cited a 2017 example when the rector criticized a news piece about a campus security officer who assaulted a university student. The rector also criticized news concerning campus accreditation that was published by the student press last year.
“What the rector disputed was journalistic products. These could be efforts to mute the student press as the university does not want to be criticized,” Agung said in a discussion held in Jakarta on Sunday, tempo.co reported.
“Most people think that the student press is part of the university’s public relations, only disseminating campus advertorials, positive news and not criticisms,” he said. Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) general secretary Revolusi Riza seconded Agung, saying that AJI had accepted the student press as a member during an AJI